33 BILLION Hours – Part Two

I have been trying to refrain from posting anything that was truly politics based but it is becoming impossible to not say something about THIS ridiculous election cycle.

So, here is my main thought:

Quit freaking out!

Seriously, I see stuff on Facebook and in the media that could have a person thinking that it was the beginning of end times or something. We have some real yahoos running for President this cycle. In fact, there isn’t one of them that is worthy of a vote. But it looks like we will be going ahead with the election anyway. So, what we might want to do is remember a few things so that everyone won’t die of a stroke when their candidate doesn’t get elected and someone they hate does get elected. Frankly I can’t see a good side to any of the candidates unless it’s when they aren’t talking. They all sound so good when they don’t say anything. I love quiet candidates and politicians.

It takes a special kind of special to choose to run for President. Trump said it takes courage to run. I think it just takes a massive ego. And there isn’t one candidate on either side of the ticket that isn’t a bloated windbag of ego. Running for President in this day and age means you have to constantly talk about how amazing you are, how you have done all these civilization-changing things, how you are better than the next person, how you, you, you, you, you, you, are the ONLY reasonable choice there is for a thinking voter to make. It also means promising things that are impossible to actually manifest. But they make a candidate sound like they are a caring and compassionate person that only has the best interest of people in their heart. But they don’t have the interest of the people in their heart, they are on a self-motivated, ego driven path to find their own glory. Even Bernie. Everyone seems to think that Bernie is this meek and mild-mannered man who is altruistic and farts rainbows. He isn’t. He is as driven to force his view of life down everyone’s throat as Trump. He just does it without mentioning his penis.
And Hillary. Oh my. She truly is the most special kind of special in the world. That woman is a shape-shifter and can do it at the drop of a hat. She is not a bit different then any other establishment candidate running except she doesn’t have a penis to brag about but she is definitely married to a willie.

All I am really trying to wind around to saying is: QUIT FREAKING OUT about these yahoos. We have had some seriously crappy Presidents throughout our history and we have survived them all and we will survive this election cycle too. And the reason we will survive this election cycle is because WE THE PEOPLE will still be going about the business of pursuing happiness and also taking pretty good care of each other. But we need to start doing a better job of the taking care of each other part. It’s actually one of the sure fired ways to quiet down this insanely insane political jockeying for votes that rolls around every four years. If we started taking better care of each other then we wouldn’t be looking to the clown college in Washington DC to take care of things for us. All these promises that they make to us to buy our votes are empty and won’t bear fruit. The real change happens right here with you and me and our neighbors and our neighborhoods and our towns and our cities. Our government shouldn’t be this loud. Our politicians shouldn’t be this loud. We let them get like this. This is our fault. But we can change that. Our government and the people who sit in either the Oval Office or Congress have a pretty basic job that they somehow have twisted into something so complex that even they don’t know how it works. Their job is to provide us with protection (military, fire, police, medical) and maintain our infrastructures (roads, bridges, dams, electrical grids, etc.). But somehow they have found a way to keep vacuuming money from our pockets while convincing us that the sucking sound we hear is progress. Now everyone of course will have some response that sounds like, “but what about the poor people, or what about the elderly, or the infirm”? and my response would be, “What have YOU done about the poor, the elderly, the infirm”?

Our government has very successfully convinced us that if we give them enough money they will make everything better FOR us. We won’t have to do a thing, or lift a finger. How’s that working out so far?

What makes things better FOR THE PEOPLE is WE THE PEOPLE. We make things better for us by being present in each others lives and providing hours and money in our own community. I mentioned in a prior blog post about volunteer hours. There are over 300 MILLION people in this country and if just half of us volunteered that would be 159 MILLION volunteers and if those 159 million people just gave 4 hours per week that is 636 MILLION hours of giving in any week. Multiply that by 52 weeks and you end up with over 33 BILLION hours of giving. Those hours could accomplish great things. Great things that we would not have to look to the government or it’s windbags to provide.

All of us that were born here in America won a lottery. A birth-lottery. We were fortunate enough to be born in a free Western society that while not perfect, is still pretty darned good. We are free to invent, innovate, create, and share solutions to big problems everyday. No jack-booted soldiers will come kick in your door and  make you disappear. You can whine, bitch, and moan all you want about how horrible you think everything in this country is and how awful the President is and no one will cart you off to never be seen again or beat you in the public square. But my suggestion is we stop with all the whining, bitching, and moaning and remember that when we all won the birth-lottery it came with a very special addendum, it’s small print, but really important: Have gratitude, display gratitude, act grateful.
And the way to follow that small print is to give back in ways that make a difference in your community, in the lives of the others around you. You actually have an obligation as a birth-lottery winner to share that good fortune. And since there wasn’t a big cash prize with this birth-lottery, you are obligated to share of yourself. And to do it with gratitude and grace.

I for one am having the best time this election cycle. I cannot believe that I actually get to witness all these shenanigans and it’s given me some deep belly laughs. I am not worried about what will happen. I do know that one of these bozos will be elected. And in 4 years we will do it all over again. What I hope happens in those 4 years is that WE THE PEOPLE will get back to taking care of WE THE PEOPLE. I hope that all of us will remember that the real grassroots campaigns are those that don’t involve one single politician. It’s just us doing the right things for each other. PLEASE, find some time in these next 4 years to make a difference in your community. Let’s make our voices heard by what we do and that will help quiet the yelling and yammering that comes from our politicians. If we could start fulfilling promises to each other to take better care of each other we wouldn’t have to listen to candidates and elected officials tell us how they are going to bring us all a pony and tuck us in bed each night. We can have better by being better. We the People.

So QUIT FREAKING OUT about the election.

It’s going to be ok.

WE THE PEOPLE got this!!